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Ambassador Mussomeli with the cast and crew of Pamina Devi at the U.S. Embassy upon their return to Cambodia.
Pamina Devi Cast Returns from Triumphant U.S. Tour
U.S. Embassy, Phnom Penh
November 02, 2007
The cast and crew of Pamina Devi: a Cambodian Magic Flute met with U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli upon their return to Cambodia from a five-city, five-week performance tour of the U.S. Pamina Devi is an original, concert-length classical dance drama by Cambodian-American choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro featuring Cambodia’s Khmer Arts Academy. Ambassador Mussomeli told the group, "Through your performances, you have exposed many Americans to a new side of Cambodian culture and made them think about your country in new ways. This is just what we need, and the entire Embassy is proud of your achievement."
The U.S. tour (PDF - 355 KB) opened at the Phillips Center of the University of Florida, Gainesville and went on to Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; New York City’s Joyce Theater; the Power Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Maryland, College Park. In preparation for the tour, friends, family and supporters were invited to a special dress rehearsal at the Khmer Arts Academy in Takhmao.
Reviewers gave the show extremely high marks. New York Times dance critic Gia Kourlas wrote, "Pamina Devi...unfolds like a silent film, taking such gradual measured hold that by the time it's over, you can't help feeling as if you've crossed over to another world." While the Village Voice's Deborah Jowitt wrote, "The tale unfolds at a leisurely, ceremonious pace, but Cheam Shapiro...manages most of the dramatic moments very skillfully. In this gracious, tranquil universe, rage is formalized and warfare dissolves at the sound of a magic flute. Would it were so easy!"
The Khmer Arts Ensemble is a 31-member independent classical dance and music troupe that specializes in the original choreography of artistic director Shapiro, as well as rarely performed works from the classical canon. The Ensemble tours internationally and performs at its own breathtaking pavilion-style theater in Takhmao, Cambodia. Its performing artists were trained at Phnom Penh’s National School of Fine Arts (Cambodia’s official fine arts conservatory), the Royal University of Fine Arts and the Royal Palace.
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